The Hindu : New Delhi News : “Need to make minorities feel more secure”

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Sunday, Aug 19, 2007
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“Need to make minorities feel more secure”

Staff Reporter

Muslims across the globe are being victimised and labelled as terrorists: V.P. Singh
Government faulted over inaction on the Sachar and Srikrishna Commission reports

NEW DELHI: Lamenting that Muslims across the globe are being labelled as terrorists, former Prime Minister V. P. Singh on Saturday said there is a need to make the minority communities in India feel more secure.

Speaking at a national convention on “Feeling of insecurity among Muslims: Its probable implications and solutions”, organised by the All India Milli Council, Mr. Singh said: “The feeling of insecurity among minorities is an old issue; it is unfortunate that there are people who instigate that feeling even today.”

He regretted that Muslims across the globe were being victimised and labelled as terrorists. “Suspicion is the biggest punishment. In India we have had a tradition of secularism, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims had learnt to live together, but those with vested interests want to disrupt this tradition, which is like a national heritage,” said the former Prime Minister.

Referring to “atrocities” committed on Muslims in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, the Mumbai riots and the Gujarat carnage, Mr. Singh said: “The Gujarat carnage shook our faith and the whole country rests on faith in the country’s judicial system.”

Castigating the Government for failing to take action on the Sachar Committee report and the Srikrishna Commission report, he said: “No action has been taken so far on the reports that have been submitted. Some sections among Muslims who were to benefit from the Mandal Commission are yet to receive any help. It is a pity that Muslims who have been part of the freedom struggle and chose to stay behind after Partition are being asked to prove their nationalism.”

Asserting that the community had not lost faith in the judiciary, Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji, Joint Convenor of the Convention, said: “It is the delay in implementing the recommendations of the Sachar Committee and Srikrishna Commission reports that is worrying.”

He said when justice seems elusive, a feeling of revenge emerges.

“There will be anarchy if there is no justice,” Mr. Khilji said.

Referring to the “insecurity” faced by Sikhs, also a minority community, B. S. Sidhu, a philosopher, said: “The feeling of insecurity is felt by the Muslims as well as the Sikhs. To trace the genesis of the problem, one requires to go back to pre-1947.”

“Of the 121 people who were hanged during the freedom struggle, 93 were Sikhs; by the same proportion the community contributed towards the freedom of India,” he said and referred to Operation Bluestar and the irreverence that was shown towards the Golden Temple. “Violence occurs when there is no other alternative. When a community comes together, it fights together. Nobody wants to commit suicide, but there comes a point when people get ready for altruistic suicide,” he said.

Academician D. Prempati spoke of a sense of insecurity among Dalits in the country. “Some say the problem of insecurity is untreatable, but I disagree. We need to come together, recognise our position in the country to solve the problem and live like citizens in a democracy, not like subordinate citizens like we are today,” he said.

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